


The Way It Should've Gone

by W0LFSTARLWT



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Pretty canon but a few changes, happy fic, jily, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-21 10:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30020463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/W0LFSTARLWT/pseuds/W0LFSTARLWT
Summary: A happy Mauraders fic because I'm sick of my heart being stomped on
Relationships: James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, Peter Pettigrew/Original Character(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Act 1: Sixth year 

“Oh hello”  
Those were the first words Sirius Black had ever spoken to Remus Lupin. Remus had sat down in an empty carriage watching the countryside zip by as the train made its way to his new school. His mother and father had kissed him goodbye at the station and off they had gone.  
“Hi” He had replied, the other boy gesturing to the empty seat across from him  
“May I sit?” Remus had nodded, the other boy sitting down. He had jet black hair, wild in a tamed sort of way, and a mischievous smile that Remus instantly liked.  
“I’m Sirius Black” he had said  
“Remus Lupin” Remus had replied shaking Sirius’ hand. It was firm and solid for eleven like Sirius had somehow been taught how someone should shake a hand.  
“James Potter” A voice from the doorway had said, the two boys looking up to see two more boys standing there. James has the same jet black hair as Sirius, but his is just wild, square glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.  
“And this is my friend Peter Pettigrew” Peter was shorter than James, with tamed blonde hair not dissimilar to Remus’ sandy brown hair, but a kind smile.  
“Nice to meet you all” he had said, his heartbeat calming a little bit. He had made friends. 

“Remus!” A voice says knocking him out of his thoughts. It’s Sirius. Six years later and their group of four had morphed into a group of six as Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon had joined their gang. Remus hadn’t minded because Lily likes studying as much as he did so she’d fun to study with while James and Sirius were practising. Marlene is lovely but they’re not as close. She hangs out with Sirius a lot. They’re sixteen now and everything had changed from when they were eleven-year-olds pulling pranks on the stupid Slytherins. James is fond of Lily, and Lily pretends like she has no interest in James. Remus is fond of Sirius and he can’t figure out if Sirius is fond of Remus in the way he wants him to be or the way that he’s fond of James.  
“Got lost in that big brain of yours again” Sirius teases, Remus’s cheeks flaring.  
“It’s easy when his brain is that big” Lily says standing up for him, Remus shooting her a grateful look.  
“So boys what pranks are we planning for our arrival back?” Marlene and Lily rolls their eyes and James scoffs  
“Excuse me ladies- the marauders are back at Hogwarts and the entire school should know about it!” Remus, Peter, and Sirius beam, Lily shaking her head  
“Remus I thought you were better than them” He just laughs as Sirius throws his arm around Remus  
“Please Lupin here has come up with some of our best schemes to date!”  
“Sorry Lily I’m a Maurader first and foremost,” He says  
“That’s our Moony!” James says beaming proudly. He loves his friends and just when he thinks they can’t do more for him they do more. The three of them had become animagi this past summer so they could join him each full moon. James had written it off as looking less suspicious if they all disappeared for a night rather than just him. He hadn’t been lying- he is a marauder before all else. His friends had given him their loyalty and he’d give them his. 

The six of them clamber off the train, James and Sirius already having come up with their latest prank. Remus is too busy looking up at the castle and his friends. He isn’t sure but for some reason, he wants to take it all in. It wouldn’t be there forever and he wanted to make sure he’d remember it when he is left alone once again.  
“Come on Remus!” James says throwing his arm around him “We can’t be late to dinner I’m starving!” 

Later that evening James and Sirius run into the common room, both of them breathing heavily. The portrait door swings closed with a thud, the nervous first years glancing up at the noise. The second years and everyone else don’t even bother-they know better by now.  
“Hide us from McGonagall!” He pleads lying on the floor  
“What happened?” Lily asks, pretending to be annoyed but they can both see the curiosity in her eyes  
“Nobody died I swear!” James says  
“What kind of answer is that?!” Remus says but drops the invisibility cloak over the two of them nonetheless, and returns to his book, the portrait opening seconds later, the professor walking in the room.  
“Where are they Lupin?” Remus looks up at the professor from his book innocently  
“Where are who professor?”  
“Those two imbeciles you run around with- Mr. Black and Mr. Potter” Remus pretends to think about it, Peter smirking and he swears he can hear James giggle from under the cloak  
“Oh them! I think they headed up to bed early, wanted to get prepared for the first day of classes” He says  
“Said something about wanting to take their studies seriously this year” Lily adds  
“We’ll let you know if we see them professor” Remus finishes and Mcgonagall stares them all down before nodding  
“Well you’re loyal I’ll give you that” She walks out of the common room, James and Sirius sitting up  
“You are a star Moony” James says dramatically kissing his cheek  
“But taking our studies seriously Evans? Do you know us?” Sirius asks sitting down next to her, a cigarette in his hand.  
“So now that we’ve covered your asses what prank have you come up for our grand entrance” James grins  
“Right yes- our masterpiece! So the professors were going to reinstate the shield around the school right, and it might be possible someone charmed their wands when they were on break after dinner to set off a specific set of charms” Lily shakes her head pretending that she isn’t entertained by their antics but Remus sees through it. Sees the way she watches James when she thinks nobody is looking.  
“Brilliant!” Remus says grinning “When is the grand reveal?”  
“Should be any minute now” James says the five of them wandering over to the window in the boy’s dormitory to get a good view.  
The teachers appear one by one, their wands at the ready but as they raise them high in the air, instead of protection charms going off fireworks burst out the end of their wands into the sky. The fireworks go off for a minute before swirling back around to reveal a message: Welcome back to Hogwarts! Love, The Marauders 

McGonagall whirls around to the Gryffindor window to see the four laughing teenagers, Lily ducking away with a grin. She’s glaring of course and yet despite her anger Remus can see the pride in her eye. Even Remus is impressed - overriding a professor’s wand? That took serious magic  
“Good prank boys” Lily says pressing a kiss to Remus’ cheek before heading up to the girls’ dorms  
“How do you do that Moony? How does she kiss you and not me?”  
“You don’t like her do you? Because if you did..I’d back down” Remus laughs and shakes his head at his friend  
“I’d never do that to you James don’t worry” Remus shakes his head laughing. The boys stand there for a moment admiring their work with proud smiles, Sirius nudging his shoulder  
“Welcome back Moony” Remus grins widely. This is going to be a good year- he can feel it already  
“Welcome back Padfoot”  
Their welcome back prank earns the boys two weeks detention and a lecture about school safety charms from Flitwick but they are far more excited about that weekend’s party in the Ravenclaw tower and not even detention could get them down.  
____________________________

They find out pretty quickly it does not take much to get Remus drunk, nor any of them frankly. Three fire whiskeys in and he finds himself on a table with Marlene screaming the words to Bohemian Rhapsody by the muggle British band Sirius likes. James, Lily, and Peter are there cheering him on, Remus giving into the crowd cheer and just ups the antics  
“Mamaaaa ohhhhhh I don’t wanna dieeee sometimes wish I’d never been born at all” They sing all six minutes of the song, the crowd only getting more lively as it goes on, Marlene jumping down laughing as the song comes to an end. Remus stands there for a moment admire the sight of the party when there’s a hand there offering him help down. Sirius. He looks belter this evening with his hair tied back in a messy bun, his jeans with rips in them and his leather jacket. All of it together- it’s just so him.  
“Wow Moony” he says laughing “You really changed this summer huh?”  
“What do you mean?” Sirius waves a hand over him  
“Just all this, you’ve grown into yourself. I like it” They share a small smile, Remus hoping the other boy can’t see his cheeks blushing. In reality he hadn’t done much that summer at all, just hung around his parents’ house and saw James and Sirius a few times when he was able to get away. He had gotten a muggle job to earn some easy money but other than that it had been a quiet summer. He isn’t sure what Sirius meant by him changing. He had kissed a boy. That was the biggest change but there as no way Sirius could know that. He wanted to be ready if he ever got the courage to kiss Sirius. He wants to know how to do it. Sometimes he wondered why the Sorting Hat had put him in the house for bravery when he couldn’t work up the ability to tell his best friend he’s in love with him. 

He knows they’re really drunk when James starts singing a sea shanty. They’d gotten past the stage in their friendship when he has to check with them before doing idiotic acts, he knows they’ll join in.  
“There once was a ship that put to sea” he sings, Peter clapping along for the beat “The name of the ship was billy o’tea. The winds blew up, her bow dipped down oh blow my billy boys blow” Remus meets Lily’s eye across the common room, the ginger staring at the four boys just shaking her head  
“Soon may the wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum” The other three join in clapping along, James throwing in a drunken jig. His tie is tied around his head pushing his hair back. He’s pretty sure Marlene had done it as a joke but he had left it there claiming it was punk rock “One day when the tonging is done, we’ll take our leave and gooo”  
“She’d not been two weeks from shore, when down un her a right whale bore” Sirius finishes the four of them laughing hysterically. Across the common room, Lily too has a grin on her face, James’ lighting up at her amusement. His plan had worked then.  
“Come on Prongs” Remus slurs “Let's get you to bed”  
“I’m going to marry that girl someday Moony,” He says as he and Sirius make their way back to the Gryffindor common room, James’ arms slung around both boys. He doesn’t realize how much noise they’re making until a voice says behind them  
“Gentlemen, what’s going on?”  
“Uhhh” James slurs, as they turn around and see Dumbledore standing there, the headmasters smile turning to that of amusement at the drunk sixteen-year-old  
“Have you boys dare I ask been drinking?”  
“Drinking? What’s that?” Sirius says as if playing dumb will get them out of this situation. Dumbledore just chuckles  
“I remember my last two years at Hogwarts. They were good times. Now off to bed you go and I’ll pretend like I didn’t see you. I hope you’re not in too much pain in the morning” The three boys grin and quickly hurry as quickly as they could back to the Gryffindor towers.  
They’re met with hangovers the next morning, James and Sirius up early for quidditch practice, Remus sitting in the stands with his book, but no matter how much pain they’re in, they’re home with each other for another year.


	2. The Season of Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school year is back in full swing at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: I’d like to add, not in particular to this chapter per se but just in the story going on that while this is a happy fic it is one based in a war so it is impossible to have only happy plot lines but I promise the overall aspect will be happy. 
> 
> Also! I’m not checking song dates- the canon is correct for the plot points but I’m not checking if the songs are from the correct year other than the general decade when writing about them so just ignore those minor things

Chapter 2:

“Moony what are we going to do next? It has to be good- even better than the Halloween dinner prank last year” James says as they walk into the great hall a few days later. He’d been babbling away mostly to himself all morning, Remus pretending that he is listening. Thankfully Peter was there to answer him, James yet to pick up on the fact he wasn’t listening.

After their successful first mission of the year, James was on a roll to make this year their most successful to date. Their first prank hadn’t been a prank to their usual standards but as James said they were only getting started and “it would be a glimpse of what is to come”  
“To be completely honest James all I want to do right now is drink my coffee in peace and not think about what possible detention we could be getting,” He says, the tone coming off harsher than he means it to. His head is pounding and he doesn’t want to think.  
“He said, James, that means business,” Sirius says sitting down beside Remus “Moons why are you cranky?” Remus sighs taking another sip of his coffee. It worries him sometimes how easily Sirius can see right through him. How easily he can see what’s bothering him before even he knows what’s bothering him. It’s a miracle he hasn’t realized how in love he is with him yet. The truth was he is cranky- the full moon is two days away and he never sleeps well right before the full moon.  
“You alright moony?” Peter asks glancing at him nervously. This is the worst part of being a werewolf. His friend’s nervous glances. They were never worried that he was a threat but always looked at him like he would fall apart at any moment. He knows it’s all in good faith but he wishes they’d have more faith in his ability to keep himself together. He’d been doing this for as long as he could remember. He knows what he is doing.  
“Fine,” He says taking the last sip of his coffee and stands all of them staring at him 

“I’ll see you guys later I’m gonna go study”  
“On a Saturday?” Peter asks but shuts up when Sirius gives him a dark look.

  
Remus wanders the castle going downside hallways that he hadn't explored before for an hour before he bumps into Lily, who had clearly been sent by his friends as a United Nations knowing he'd never snap at her. Cowards.  
“Hey moony,” She says gently. She had picked up the nickname after hearing the boys call him that but that’s all it was to her- a cute nickname. He worries what would happen when one day that big brain of hers actually put the dots together.   
“Hi lily” He sighs. His shoulders ached as the full moon approaches and he rubs them anxiously. They walk along the bridge quietly for a minute before either of them say anything  
“You ready for the potions exam on Monday?” She asks, a beam breaking out on his face. He could always rely on Lily to know what to say to lift the tension in a room. He shrugs  
“I think so but you never do know with Slughorn-“ Both of them fall silent as they round the corner, Snape standing there with Mulciber.  
“Severus,” Lily says, cooly. They had barely spoken since the year before, their conversations mostly consisting of when they bumped into one another in the hallway, something Lily avoided at all costs.  
“Snivelus” remus sneers “late for a Voldemort fan club meeting?”  
“You do not get to utter the dark lord’s name you dirty half-blood” Snape sneers and turns to Lily “I don’t know why you’d want to hang out with Loony Lupin - you’re lowering your standards Lily” Lily steps in front of Remus before he punches Severus  
“Come on Remus. James is waiting for us”

James as it happened was waiting for them with Sirius and Peter in the common room, the three of them smiling at him as he walks in, Remus suddenly guilty about his blow up. His emotions were never great near the full moon.  
“Hey moons,” Sirius says as he sits down  
“What are you three doing just sitting here for? Don’t you have schemes to plot? Worlds to conquer” Peter grins  
“Turns out we’re a bit hopeless without your voice of reason” Remus beams and turns to James  
“James it’s a beautiful day- go and practice with Wormtail because we all know you want to” James grins, the two boys jumping up and running off to change  
“What about us?” Sirius asks, Remus’ heart skipping a beat. What about them? What had they been doing since the start of school? The way Remus let himself look at Sirius for a beat too long, picturing the way his hand felt in his own. He wished it made sense.  
“We’re going to Hogsmeade,” He says with a determined grin

  
______________________________

  
“So is this prank idea against all of Slytherin or just Snivellus?” Sirius asks as they make their way toward’s the village. Snape’s face enters his mind, filling Remus with absolute rage  
“This is personal”  
They stock up on stink bombs and invisible ink. On the walk back to the Gryffindor tower after their run-in with Snape as Lily had ranted, he had come up with three different pranks.  
“What are you planning?” Sirius asks as they head back to the castle “I’m completely for it whatever it icy you just have to fill me in”  
“These are about three different pranks. I figured if James wants to stock up on pranks then let’s do it”  
“I like this invigorated Moony,” His best friend says, the two of them walking back to the castle a touch faster excited to get working on their scheme.  
The beauty of their prank that evening is that there’s no way to link it back to them. The four of them sit down, Remus glaring at the back of Snape’s head  
“Prongs you do the honours” He says, James grinning  
“Thanks, Moony”  
“I’d love to know where you got those nicknames,” Marlene says glancing over at them. Remus and James freezing in panic, but Sirius just rolls his eyes lazily  
“It’s such a long story you’d regret you asked by the end of it” and Marlene shrugs accepting it. James takes his wand out from where is stowed in his robes, a glimmer of excitement in his eye as he points it at Snape, his hand stays low to the table as Sirius and Peter subtly lean away from each other to give him a clean shot, out of sight from any of the professors who might happen to be overlooking.  
“ _Leumduplici_ ” He whispers, the streak of magic moving across the hall so quickly nobody could’ve seen it. The four marauders sit back, excited smiles blooming on their faces as they eat watching and waiting.

It takes a few minutes but as Remus is finishing his pasta when Peter nudges him nodding towards the Slytherin table. Snape’s hair is dripping in hair oil, hair looking like it hadn’t been washed in weeks. The other Slytherin’s glance at him moving away awkwardly. The Marauders lose it when Snape reaches up to touch his hair. The oil drips down his back soaking his robes, the four boys falling over themselves laughing  
“Oi Snivellus! I knew you had a problem with showering but you might want to get a handle on it mate it’s getting a bit embarrassing now” Remus calls, the Slytherin turning to glare at him as he stands stalking out of the great hall.  
The professors know exactly who pulled the prank of Snape, looking straight to the Gryffindor table to see the four boys hunched over laughing but are unable to prove it.

“Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin,” McGonagall says forty-five minutes later, all four of them looking up. James is sitting in the window a cigarette dangling from his lips, Remus on the couch reading, Sirius upside down on a large chair, Peter in the middle of a chess game.  
“Yes, professor?” James asks innocently  
“Wands please” Gryffindor’s of all ages look on as the four boys hand over their wands to have their spells searched. For anybody else it might be scary but this had been happening since they were first years they knew their ways around it at this point. It had been a minor spell so it would leave a small mark on his record, something James had quickly covered with a fire charm. Something that doesn’t go unnoticed by the professor  
“A fire charm Mr Potter?”  
“Gotta light my cig somehow professor,” He says waggling his eyebrows, Remus snorting with laughter.  
“I hope you know we know it was you. You cannot be punished since it cannot be proven but please for the love of god please solve whatever tension you have with Mr. Snape” Sirius snorts this time  
“Sorry professor but we don’t befriend terrorists” McGonnegal doesn’t say anything else just nodding and exiting the common room.

Letters are waiting for them when they sit down at breakfast the next morning. Snape must’ve gone to Madam Pomfrey, his hair back to it’s normal level of grease.  
“Get anything Lils?” Sirius asks, Lily, shaking her head  
“My parents don’t really understand how to figure out the whole wizard mailing system” A pang of hurt pangs through Remus thinking of Lily going a whole semester at school without hearing from her parents  
“What’s their address?” James asks suddenly “I had to explain it someone before I’ll send a letter explaining it to your mum and dad. They should get it by this evening” Her face lights up  
“Really?”  
“Of course” They share a smile, the other three staying silent knowing full well James has never had to explain how the wizarding world works before. Remus looks at his own letter, his mother’s neat cursive written on the front of the envelope

_Mr. Remus Lupin_   
_Gryffindor Tower_   
_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_My Darling Remus,_   
_The house has grown quiet as autumn goes on without you here with us. How is school? Your dad was telling me this year is an important year for you so I hope you focus on your studies and know your dad and I are cheering you on from home. Your father is enjoying his new job and I’ve taken up painting. I find it helps pass the time after work, and I think I might even let your father bring me on a ride on that broomstick of his. I hope your friends are well and give them all a hug from us. How has your transitions been going? Madam Pomfrey wrote to us about a combination of cream and potion for us to get you but it might take some time to get our hands onto it. We want you to know we are trying and are doing everything we can to make this easier on you love. We love you so much and are so proud of you._   
_Write soon,_   
_Love,_   
_Mum & Dad xx_

“You alright moony?” Sirius asks gently and it’s only when he looks up does he realize he’s tearing up.  
“Oh yeah fine fine,” He says wiping his eyes “I just think my mum is a bit lonely is all” he turns to James and Sirius  
“How are your parents?”  
Sirius had moved in with James that past summer after he ran away from home. It had been too much, far too much and he hadn’t been able to take his own parent’s cruelty any longer. The potter’s had taken him in without any question, Euphemia and Fleamont going as far as insisting Sirius refer to them as Mum and Dad. So far there hadn’t been a word from the Blacks for so much as proof of life. It’s like Sirius was dead to them. Yet Remus had never seen Sirius happier than he had last summer.  
“They’re good,” James says, Remus glancing at Sirius’ letter. His and James’ letters were always quite similar, filling the boys in on their weeks, asking about their subjects. Both Euphemia and Fleamont Potter had attended Hogwarts so they were able to ask in-depth questions whereas his mother cared, she truly did but she was new to the wizarding world, only seeing glimpses of it through Remus and his father, so her questions had always remained pretty vague. He takes out his quill and parchment and writes out his reply to his mum before he gets distracted and forgets

_Dear Mum,_   
_School is good. My friends are good as well, they all send their love. The full moons haven’t been awful, and are a lot better now that I have the boys there with me during them. My favorite subject this year is probably charms but I enjoy potions quite a bit as well (Potions is essentially chemistry but less equations and more like cooking). What sort of paintings do you enjoy doing? Sirius likes drawing but he prefers doing portraits or doodles. I’m sure the paintings are great and I can’t wait to see some when I’m home next. I hope you’re not too bored in the house, maybe join a muggle club? I love you both and can’t wait to see you when I’m home_   
_Love,_   
_Remus_

He hands the letter to the owl, the bird lifting off the table and flying out the window already on his way to deliver his letter. James glances at him now that Lily is chatting with Marlene about something leaning over to ask quietly  
“Will you help me with the letter?”  
“Yeah James I’ll help you”  
Remus and James get the letter to Lily’s parents done quite quickly explaining step by step how to attach the letter to the owl’s foot with pictures done by Sirius. They attach Lily’s letter to her parents on top of it, James’ owl flying off, the redhead throwing her arms around James  
“Thank you so much” he beams at him “Maybe you’re not so bad after all Potter”

______________________________

This full moon is a bad one. One of his worst to date if he’s honest. He blinks awake to James, Sirius, and Peter blinking down at him. He can feel himself bleeding somewhere and everything hurts and he can only groan “Get madam Pomfrey” before fainting again.  
When he wakes up again he’s in the hospital wing, James, Sirius, and Peter by his side his limbs weak. His headache has subsided and if he’s being honest his friends look as poorly as he does  
“How are you feeling?” James asks, white as a sheet  
“Like I’ve just been run over by a truck,” he says but even as he says it he feels significantly better than when he had first woken up  
“We got your homework for you” Peter adds, Remus, sitting up slowly  
“What time is it?”  
“Five pm?”  
“I’ve slept the whole day?!”  
“Your body clearly needed it Mr. Lupin,” Madam Pomfrey says tutting as she moves Peter and Sirius out of the way to check his vitals. He sits still as she does her check, all four of them quite used to his medical exams by now  
“You are clear to go back to the common room but under no circumstances are you to be running around the castle with any pranks. Those can wait for tomorrow- understand boys?”  
“Yes ma’am,” they say

“Hey moony?” James asks as they make their way back to the common room, Remus back in his school uniform but leaning on James and Sirius a bit to walk steadily.  
“Yeah James?” He asks tiredly  
“Have you considered telling Evans about your furry little problem?  
“No…why?”  
“Well she’s getting really suspicious about where you keep disappearing off to each full moon”  
“What did you tell her??” He asks his heart rate soaring  
“That your bunking and it’s a coincidence”  
“That’s fine she can believe that” He says  
“Alright but don’t be surprised when she asks”  
As though James had been taking Divination as they walk into the common room, Remus back on his own two feet, Lily stands there looking very peeved off.  
“Why weren’t you in class today?”  
“Was in the hospital wing” He says walking around her to put his books down  
“That’s what you said last time you bunked- stop lying to me Remus! You’re supposed to be better than them! You actually have a head on your shoulders!” The three boys head up to the dormitory clearly not wanting to witness the argument about to ensue  
“You know what Lily? I’m not better than them and I don’t have the energy to fight you on this right now but I don’t know what ever gave you that impression because they’ve been my best friends since the day we all showed up here so if you have some weird delusion that I’m better than them because I enjoy studying then that’s on you” He turns and walks into the dormitory where Sirius, James, and Peter all sit looking at him. They blink at him innocently but they are all fully aware they heard every word he’d just said  
“Don’t say anything” He says gruffly as he crawls into bed. All he wants to do is sleep.  
“We love you too Moony” James says quietly, Remus smiling to himself from behind his curtain.  
His friends bring him dinner, Sirius waking him gently chicken noodle soup sitting gently on a tray that is levitating beside his bed.  
“You gotta have dinner- you can go right back to sleep after- but you have to have dinner” he sighs but knows Sirius is right. He sits up slowly to avoid his body screaming at the movement and the tray is carefully placed in his lap. His best friend happily sits across from him flicking his wand and a piece of cake comes flying in landing perfectly in his own lap, a grin on his face  
“What? Everyone loves dinner company”

_________________________________

The Marauders experience Snape’s retaliation the next morning as they walk into Defense Against the Dark Arts, their professor standing there holding the pile of their essays.  
“Some of you did very well on this” he says putting Snape’s essay on his desk “and some of you may want to work on your handwriting” He says dropping an essay at each of the Marauder’s desks. Remus looks down at his handwriting a frown forming. His handwriting is bad but it’s not this bad. James twigs things together a second later looking towards Snape with a smirk  
“Really Snivellus? This is what you call revenge” James laughs “No wonder there hasn’t been any competition yet” Sirius laughs  
“Good one James” Number one rule of the marauders is loyalty. Number two? Never under any circumstance say their nicknames in class. It would lead to too many questions they couldn’t answer. James slides their essays to Lily who sits at the desk next to him saying sweetly  
“Miss Evans would you do the honors?” She taps the essays with her wand saying “Finite encantantum” The essays’ words rearrange themselves and suddenly they are legible once more. She smirks at Snape, handing the essays back to their professor, Snape just curls his lip  
“Filthy mudblood” He says to himself and this time it’s Sirius and not James Remus has to yank back, Sirius thrashing against both him and James’ arms  
“Let me at him Remus! I swear to god you better hope I never get my hands on you little snake” He roars at Snape who has backed out of his chair.

It doesn’t take long for them to get their revenge. It’s a shockingly warm day later that Friday, most students taking off their cloaks as they walk from class to class, just in their shirts and skirts or trousers. The majority of the sixth and seventh years linger in the courtyard trying to enjoy the last glimpses of summer. James and Remus sit in the window their feet dangling down, Sirius glaring at where Snape stands withstands below, his back to them.  
““Would you like us to have some fun Miss Evans?” Remus muses  
“I actually would” She says, Sirius and James beaming. It’s so rare Lily agrees to go along with their schemes but this one is different. Even Lily has rage building in her as she stares at Snape. Remus supposes it must hurt even more because at one point in time Snape was her best friend and now he’s calling her the worst thing you can call a muggleborn.  
Sirius hits Snape with the first hex, his shoes cementing themselves to the ground below him. James strikes him next, mostly just to get his attention. Snape whirls around and meets Lily’s eyes as she lifts her wand casting a silent spell, dragon feces piling onto him. People gather around, Snape wiping the shit out of his eyes, James and Sirius losing it, falling over themselves laughing.  
“Who’s the Mudblood now snivellus” She says curling her lip. Remus soars with pride as Snape glares up at them the five of them walking away.

“I’m sorry about the other day” Lily says quietly, Sirius and James further ahead with Peter basking in the victory of their strike. They linger further behind walking quietly, he’s still a bit sore from the last full moon so it’s a good excuse to hide that  
“It’s alright Lily but I genuinely was in the hospital wing. I wouldn’t - I wouldn’t have done that without the others or a good reason” She nods  
“I know that. I should have believed you”

He doesn’t know why they assumed that would be the end of it. He knew Snape better than that. He wouldn’t let an embarrassment like that slide. It had taken an hour of Snape standing there for the professor’s to get through the dragon shit and get him out of it. Remus had hoped because it was Lily it would be clear their friendship was over. That he had taken it too far. Severus plays the waiting game, waiting until they expect it the least.  
He strikes two days after the next full moon, Remus walking back from a late studying session. Sirius and James had gone back to the common room with Lily but Remus had had one chapter left and didn’t want to have to do the last of it before class.  
The strike comes out of nowhere, his head hitting the stone with a thud, only a few hallways away from the Gryffindor tower. What the hell had just happened? Someone hauls him up again Mulciber’s fist slamming into his jaw. He should’ve known something like this would happen. He feels something crack as he’s punched again refusing to let himself flinch.  
“You can’t even beat me up yourself you coward” He says meeting Snape’s eye with a bitter laugh. The scrawny boy stands a few feet back, instructing the two goons. He spits out the blood pooling in his mouth, refusing to seem pathetic. If he is going down he’d go down fighting. His minions attack again kicking him sharply in the rib. Okay that hurt. He keep kicking until Remus is curled into a ball just waiting for it to end.  
“Come on” Snape says bored “We’re done here”  
They stalk away Remus desperately reaching for his wand. His closes his eyes, Sirius’ face filling his mind, the way his eyes light up as he laughs at James’ jokes, or his smirk when Remus makes a dirty joke that goes over their professor’s head. He thinks of the way it feels for his hand to brush against his, the way it felt when he pulled him into a hug-  
“ _Expecto Patronum_ ” His patronus bursts out of his wand, the silver wolf staring back at him  
“Sirius please help me. Hurry please” He says and he can hear how desperate his own voice sounds. “Get Sirius” he says, the world spinning around him.

  
________________________________________

Sirius is in the common room watching James and Peter play chess when the Patronus arrives. They are on their third round, the fire crackling quietly behind them, Peter beating James once but so far hadn’t been able to do it since.  
“Where the hell is Moony?” Peter asks, James shrugging nonchalantly  
“You know how he is with those books maybe he got lost in one again” There’s a tug on his trouser leg and he looks down to see Remus’ patronus standing there  
“Sirius please help me” Remus’ voice pleads echoing through the quiet common room “Hurry please” The wolf turns walking back out of the common room, Sirius running behind it.

He finds Remus collapsed on the floor, his face bleeding, his chest already purple with bruises.  
“Moony” He breathes scooping his best friend into his arms gently “It’s okay. I’m here now. Let’s get you to the hospital wing”  
“No” He croaks “I just want to go to bed” Sirius nods and he easily lifts him into his arms walking back to the common room, James and Peter looking up to see them walking through.  
“What the fuck?!”  
“What happened?”  
“I’m not sure but I have a guess”

  
________________________________________

When Remus comes to, it’s to a blanket of pain. Every part of his body hurts. Thankfully it’s not as sharp as it is after his transformations but somehow knowing these are human injuries make them worse. They would take longer to heal this way. Two figures pace back and forth in front of the bed. Sirius and James are seething. “I’m gonna kill ‘im Prongs im gonna fucking kill him! The moon was only two days ago - He could have died”  
“Sirius” he croaks, the boy spinning on his heel with James, both of them at his side in seconds  
“Moony- what the hell happened?  
“Snape happened” He says bitterly “His minions attacked me on my way back last night I didn’t even have a chance to take my wand out”  
“I fucking knew it” Sirius spits and before they can say anything the two boys storm out the door, anger practically rolling off them.

  
________________________________________

Nobody tries to go near James and Remus as they storm through the common room. A few third years had been awake when Sirius had brought Remus in last night, the four of them heading into the dormitory and refusing to leave since. It had gotten through the tower by that morning, everyone knowing Remus had had the shit kicked out of him the night before, and like Sirius most people could guess exactly who was behind it. James and Sirius aren’t particularly scary people, arrogant? Sure. A bit too cocky at times? Of course. But cruel? Never. Today is a different story and Sirius knows it. He can see it in the younger years faces as they glance at them. As if worried they will turn their anger on them. No fear in that. He thinks. He only has one target in mind. Lily grabs James’ arm as Sirius throws the portrait open  
“James what happened?”  
“He beat him to a pulp Lily” James says whirling around and it’s obvious he’s using his anger to stop from crying. Sirius had cried all night. There is only anger left. That look of helplessness of Remus’ face- it had been too much. Lily’s face falls and she lets go of James’ arm her face falling  
“Do what you need to do” She says her voice like ice “I’m going to go sit with Remus”

People turn as James and Sirius enter the courtyard. They quickly scramble to move out of the way as they push through the crowd, Severus turning just in time. It had been easy to track him down. He tended to stick to the same three spots in the castle and it’s sunny today so here he is outside, Mulciber and the other one by his side. Their knuckles are still a bit red with blood. Moony’s blood. Sirius goes blind with rage.  
James, who had gained an inch or so over Severus over the summer shoves him, the boy hitting the pillar, James moving quickly grabbing him by the collar, Sirius hitting him square in the jaw before he can move.  
“You couldn’t even make it a fair fight could you snivellus” Sirius spits  
“You had to attack him in the night and make sure your minions did it for you”  
“You made sure he was alone and you attacked him and beat him because he couldn’t fight back”  
“Well guess what you coward Remus might not be able to fight you back but we sure as hell are” He says going for his ribs. Those take a long time to heal. Snape would know.  
“If you or your nitwits so much as lay a hand on him again we’re going to do so much worse than this you’ll refuse to leave those miserable dungeons of yours out of fear” James hisses, and as he pulls back to punch Snivellus again he feels a hand on his shoulder, a different one stopping him from laying another punch on Snape.  
“James, Sirius. What’s going on here?” Mcgonnegal’s tone is soft as they turn around, Dumbledore standing beside her.  
“Before you give us detention professor maybe you should go check Remus’ bed and see how badly Snivellus’ goons beat him last night” Sirius says not even bothering to hide their nickname for Snape, McGonnegal takes in his words and nods  
“Black, Potter come with me” She shifts her eyes to stare at Snape  
“Mr. Snape if you feel the need to go to Madam Pomfrey feel free to do so but otherwise you’ll be seeing me tomorrow evening every evening for two months of detention”  
“What?” He squawks “I’m the victim here!”  
“Oh no you’re not. We checked Mr. Lupins’ bed on our way here and found the young Gryffindor severely injured. We try not to get into the habit of attacking our fellow students here at Hogwarts”  
“And what about what just happened here?”  
“Was a retaliation. They will be punished accordingly but you attacked their best friend. Did you really expect them to do nothing? I thought you smarter than that Mr. Snape” Sirius snorts McGonnegal casting him a dark look, and only when they’ve walked a good distance from the other students does Sirius ask  
“So what did you think of me Professor?” Her face remains deadpanned  
“I had you pegged as loyal” She says “Not all my hunches are proving me wrong today”

They sit down in Dumbledore’s office, the two of them glancing at each other. They’ll be punished but Sirius couldn’t bring himself to care. Anything for Remus.  
“Boys” Dumbledore says and before he can say anything James jumps in  
“Professor before you say anything I feel like it’s important to add that it’s only two days after a full moon. Remus was barely healed” The headmaster nods  
“We understand. But you attacked another student. You’ll serve one months detention with Flitwick doing lines for an hour. And because you were defending your friend I won’t separate you. I’m sure that’d fair enough” They nod, both boys walking back to the common room, their fists sore but satisfied with the results.

________________________________________

As October goes on Remus slowly but surely heals, James and Sirius serving their detention without complaint everyday heading to Flitwick’s classroom for their hour each day after dinner. Remus is out of bed by the end of the day after the attack, Madam Pomfrey making what she refers to as a house call to his dormitory.  
“You know you’re lucky I think fondly of you of Mr. Lupin because I do not enjoy entering teenage boys bedrooms under any circumstances” He laughs glancing around the dormitory. It’s not too messy for them, a few shirts throwing on the floor but other than that it was quite neat. She’s able to heal everything but the bruising in the end but Remus just grins  
“Makes me look tough” Sirius snorts from where he is sitting beside the bed. That was the biggest difference Remus had noticed. Ever since he had been attacked his best friend had turned into full puppy mode, barely leaving his side for longer than an hour. He hadn’t said anything to them but he noticed his friends putting in longer hours in the library when he did, even when they clearly didn’t want to, as if they refuse to let him walk back alone.

The current exciting buzzing among the upper class-men was the Gryffindor Halloween party they’d be throwing that weekend. It’s the biggest event of the year and they were going all out that year.  
“Remus come on! We’re going to be late!” James says from their bathroom door and Remus just laughs continuing to fix his hair.  
“For our own party? James, it’s downstairs!”  
“I know but we have to enter together so people know our costumes are linked!” Remus can only laugh at his friend's excitement and nods follows him through the dormitory and into the party with Sirius and Peter.  
They had gone for the muggle band Sirius had shown them, Queen. He was huge into muggle music, filling their collection more and more by the month, having records flown in and they couldn’t get enough of them, the four of them singing along to their songs on repeat for hours until Lily would come in and turn it off.  
Sirius had gone for Freddie Mercury putting on a flamboyant floral blazer with his jeans and boots, James casting a specific spell to grow his hair into Freddie’s hairstyle. James is John Deacon, the bassist, Remus dressing as Brian May, and Peter as Roger Taylor.  
“You promise me you can undo it” Sirius had pleaded as James had lifted his wand for the spell had been cast  
“I promise” James had said struggling not to laugh. Only Sirius cared about his hair that much.  
“Come on boys,” Sirius says now, all of them dressed and ready to go “Let’s go party”

Frank Longbottom had put James in charge of the music system, James just bringing Sirius’ record player into the common room and putting a first year in charge of shuffling the records every hour. Remus had then spelt it to make it play louder and after a few drinks in they were all clapping along to Radio Gaga.  
“Having fun Moony?” Remus nods easily. He is four drinks in and is very drunk.  
“I wanna dance,” he says, his best friend laughing  
“Then lets dance!” He spells the record player, September beginning to play. Remus loves this song.  
“Do you remember” They both sing and that’s all he needs, the rest of the tower joining in.

Within five minutes the Gryffindor tower is thumping with music, no doubt in a single professor’s mind what is going on up there. None of them even notice when McGonnegal pokes her head in to see Remus Lupin and Sirius Black drunkenly dancing on a table. She should confiscate their alcohol and punish them for drinking on school grounds...but it's a holiday and they're all nearly legal. She'll let this one slide.

“Say you remember!” He screams  
“Aye aye” the three other marauders sing back, and there isn’t a single person in there dancing. It’s moments like this that he loves being sixteen. He can sing and dance along with his friends without a care in the world, all of the problems going on suddenly gone for the evening.  
“Here I am baby! Signed, sealed delivered I’m yours!” They’re going song by song and he could keep going forever at this rate.

_____________________________________

“AND I’M HOPELESSLY DEVOTED TO YOUUUUU” James croons sadly, the three of them laughing. Five drinks in and James starts singing about his love for Lily again. He had tried again and failed again to impress her but they all knew he wouldn’t give up anytime soon.   
“Come on John Deacon” Peter says helping him up “Let’s get you to bed” the two of them make their way to the dormitory, Remus turning back to the boy standing in front of him. Most of the party had crashed or headed back to their own dormitory’s, Sirius shaking his head  
“No” He says “I don’t want it to end yet”  
“Then I’ll be right here with you until you are” Remus says, Sirius beaming.

He isn’t sure when it happens. The party had died down, everybody going back, and they’re the only ones still left awake. He doesn’t know what time it is but at that moment he doesn’t care because he’s with Sirius and he’s got that excited sparkle in his eye. The same one Remus thinks about as he’s falling asleep at night. That smile that fills him up with so much joy he thinks he’ll burst. One second he’s on the couch everyone around them drunkenly passed out, and the next second Sirius’ lips are on his.


	3. It took them long enough

Chapter 3:

Remus can’t stop thinking about the kiss. It’s all his mind can focus on. His every waking thought. When he’s in lessons, as James talks about their quidditch match that they had had against Hufflepuff, in honesty any situation that wasn’t sleeping, that memory is playing in his mind. He isn’t sure what had happened after, but that _feeling_ of Sirius’ lips against his. That stays. Three times yesterday he had been in the middle of taking notes when he had accidentally scribbled Sirius’ name. He could taste the rum still on his lips, his tongue exploring Sirius’ mouth before he had realized what he was doing and then nothing-. He vaguely remembers crawling into bed after but he couldn’t face Sirius not when he didn’t know what his reaction would be. It all could’ve been a drunk mistake for all he knew. After so many years of keeping it a secret, he had gone and given it up while drunk and now he couldn’t even remember what happened.

He’d been in love with him since he was fourteen. It didn’t surprise him all that much when he realized. They were coming back for fifth year, James’ crush for Lily Evans turning into a head over heels love something that still to this day remains one-sided. They had walked onto the platform and there he was, leaning against the train without a bother in the world. It felt like he had walked onto the platform with Sirius as his best friend and gotten on the train unable to ever look at him the same way ever again. 

Remus had never given much thought to just how much time he spent with his best friends until he was avoiding them. Well avoiding Sirius in particular. It wasn’t that he was upset with them, but he didn’t want to be rejected and he knew it was inevitable once Sirius had the chance to get him alone. So he’s sitting in this in-between area of fear. Remus didn’t even blame him.

“Remus is everything alright?” Lily asks as he takes a different route to Potions Tuesday morning arriving in Potions long before his friends did. Even Slughorn had given him a surprised glance to see him there standing alone. 

“Yeah fine what’s up Lily?”

“Well you’re alone for one thing…I don’t think I’ve seen you alone during the day without your shadows since first year” He smiles despite himself and shakes his head

“Oh no I’m fine- I - er - I just needed to drop something by the dorm is all” Lily nods not believing him at all but smiles nonetheless

“Alright then”

He should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to dodge Sirius for long. It is Sirius Black after all. If he wanted to speak to someone he’d get his way eventually. He definitely knows Remus is dodging him, unable to make eye contact the next morning when they had all sat down with pounding hangovers.

“What’s going on with Moony?” James had asked when Remus had gotten up halfway through and gone straight back to the dorm, unable to sit there any longer.

The morning of Sirius’ seventeenth birthday they all go down to the great hall, the whole school singing along as they lead them in a round of Happy Birthday. It was Sirius’ birthday- his most important birthday. He’d put away his anxiety of being rejected for the day. 

“To the first of age Marauder!” James says hugging Sirius from behind “happy birthday Padfoot” Sirius beams, his hair lazily tied back in his mini bun, an oversized Beatles t-shirt on with his pyjamas. None of them had gotten dressed before coming downstairs, the younger students glancing at them oddly.

“Thanks guys” His eyes meet Remus’ and he gestures out the doors

“Moony could I talk to you for a minute?” James and Peter look up at them curiously and he nods. It’s his birthday, he couldn’t exactly say no. _“no sorry Sirius I don’t want to come with you so you can gently reject me and we go back to being friends despite the fact that I’m head over heels in love with you and then I can continue to celebrate you while my heart is breaking”_

“Yeah of course” he says instead

His heart is pounding as they walk out the great hall, his mouth gone dry as he trails behind Sirius. They duck into the first empty classroom they see, Sirius easily unlocking it. He’s going to let him down gently, say it was a drunk mistake and they’ll go back to being friends, Remus’ heart-shattering in the process. _It’ll be okay_ he tells himself _you’ll move on._ It’s a lie but a lie he can accept for the moment. One does not move on after falling in love with Sirius Black. They shut the door behind them, Remus locking it and turns around

“Look Pad-“ He says. He might as well get ahead of it. Sirius lunges at him, his lips on Remus’ before he can get the rest of the word out. Well, he wasn’t expecting this. He sinks into the kiss for half a second before backing up eyes wide

“Wait wait what’s going on?” He asks stepping back

“I know you might be regretting Halloween but I really like you Remus and I don’t know if I can just go back to being best friends unless you’re sure you don’t want this”

“You like me?” Sirius blinks at him

“Didn’t we establish that on Halloween?”

“Sirius I can barely remember Halloween- I remember kissing you and then nothing else” Sirius smacks his forehead

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding me- I thought you had changed your mind about dating”

“I thought you were going to say it was a drunken mistake and reject me” He confesses, Sirius’s hand squeezing one of his fingers. The other boy moves closer as Remus sits on the edge of the table, Sirius slotting himself between his legs with a grin. _Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god._ Sirius runs his hand through Remus’ bedhead and says

“I’m gone for you- You’re my first, my last, my everything moony”

“Did you just quote Barry White?” Sirius groans resting his forehead on Remus’ shoulder

“Don’t ruin the romantic moment”

Their lips meet tentatively the both of them laughing, Remus unable to resist any longer leans forward kissing him softly. His eyes flutter shut, Sirius beaming.

“So…” Sirius says nervously after a second “Boyfriends?” Remus doesn’t hold back his grins as he nods kissing him

“Yeah boyfriends sounds good…but I want to keep it to ourselves first. I haven’t come out to anyone and I don’t know if I’m ready to just spring that on them”Sirius kisses him again, Remus getting lost in the way his lips feel against his, his legs loosely wrapped around his waist. How different it was to just twelve hours before.

“You take all the time you need”

“Happy Birthday padfoot” Remus says laughing unable to contain his grin

“Oh toss off” He says, the both of them laughing. He leans forward kissing him once more “Come on before Prongs gets nosy and comes to see what we’re up to”

The two boys walk back into the great hall grins on their face, fifteen minutes left until breakfast ends for the day.

“What are you two so happy about?” Lily asks Sirius shrugging, James adding hopefully

“Does this mean Remus isn’t going to avoid us any longer because you’re not slick mate” Remus nods

“No more avoiding”

“So what was so funny?”

“Moony told me a funny joke”

“Ooo tell us” James says

“You wouldn’t get it” Remus says which only makes Sirius laugh even more “I’ll tell you next time”

“You two are weird” He says shrugging

“Must be the lycanthropy” Remus says casually, all three of his friends laughing.

They spend the afternoon playing quidditch, the three boys making practice shots on Sirius for hours on end until he caught everyone. After spending a week at James’ this summer Remus had become somewhat decent at flying on a broom but nowhere near even wanting to try out for the team, nor the interest to actually play the sport.

They spend the afternoon practising, Sirius entertaining himself by doing laps around Remus, him and James racing around the field a few times. By the time they head inside Remus’ stomach is rumbling again for a cup of coffee and snack. He curls up on the couch in front of the fire, Lily across from him writing a letter to her parents

“I wanted to thank you” She says Remus quirking an eyebrow

“What did I do?”

“For helping my parents with their mail problem- I really appreciate it”

“That was James” He says and she shakes her head

“You’re a good friend but I know it was you-“

“No no Lily- I changed a few of his analogies so they would make sense to a muggle but that was all James- Sirius added the drawings-but it was mostly James I promise” Her cheeks blush and she grins

“Well I’ll have to thank him then”

It takes Lily a few weeks to find the opportunity to speak to James. It doesn’t surprise him based on how much work they’d been assigned lately, Remus feels like he spends more time in the library than the classroom or his dormitory combined. He drags Sirius along with him a few times but he never lasts long before getting bored. His current record is 45 seconds. He sits there trying to be a good boyfriend but after a while, Remus would take mercy and let him leave going off to look for James or Peter.

He knows when she does though, James running into the common room one Tuesday. He throws himself on Remus kissing his his face frantically. It’s well past midnight, the common room empty bar Remus who had come down to read his book peacefully and wait for his friends to return.

“What have I done to deserve this kind of love” He laughs trying to push him off

“Lily told me what you did. She gave me a kiss on the cheek Moony. I’m never washing this cheek” Sirius stands behind him laughing and Remus gets the opportunity to push James off of him the three of them laughing

“Well I just told her the truth. You earned yourself that kiss Prongs”

James heads up to the dorm soon after growing bored. Him and Sirius talk about Quidditch but without any upcoming games for the next week or so they grow tired of the topic quite quickly. Peter had already been in bed for an hour at that point in the evening, Remus envious of him in that moment. Sirius crawls into Remus’ lap happily, the werewolf laughing quietly as he is covered in kisses

“Come on if you’re going to be like this we might as well go to bed so we don’t at least get caught” James and Peter’s lights are already out as they enter the dormitory. Tonight Remus just drops his book on his bed, quietly slipping into Sirius’ bed.

He had been amazed how quickly him and Sirius had grown comfortable around each other , but he supposed after being best friends withsomeone for six years before dating, one would assume he would already be quite comfortable with that person.They had begun to sneak down to the great hall early each morning, only one or two first years in there that early. They could sit in peace, Remus reading while Sirius stole pieces of his toast. WhenSirius would either finish his two squares leaving the rest for Remus he’d begin to annoy the closest first years until eventually they too got up and went away leaving them the privacy to kiss.

Remus shuts the curtains, the two boys kissing with a giggle. There was something so thrilling about being with Sirius like this while everyone was right there completely unaware.

“Look moony” Sirius says and Remus holds up a finger casting “ _Muffliato_ ”

“Okay now you can talk”

“Look Moony” He says pointedly, Remus giggling “I know we only started dating a few weeks ago but I want to be honest with you- I’m in this for the long haul, and I understand if you want to play it by ear-” Remus interrupts him with a kiss, Sirius easily leaning back, rearranging them so Remus is straddling them all without separating their lips.

“Sirius I’ve been in this for the long haul since we were fourteen. It’s not me you need to worry about”

“Well if it’s not me and it’s also not you…who do we need to worry about?”

“Voldemort?” Remus asks his eyebrows waggling.

“You’re an idiot” Sirius laughs, Remus just wrapping his arms around his boyfriend kissing him. 

They lie there panting when it’s over. He had wondered what sex would be like. He doesn’t feel all that different..just like he had done something he hadn’t before. There was a moment as he crashed over, Sirius still inside him- it was the greatest sense of wholeness and love he had ever experienced. It felt like some sort of prize, or fine food. Too much of it and it would be gone forever.

Remus rolls over to look at Sirius, the both of them beaming like children. He reaches his hand up, Sirius catching it easily. Their fingers intertwine falling gently onto the pillow, Sirius’ free hand reaching up to stroke his hair.

“Sirius” He says quietly “Have you ever…before today?” His boyfriend shakes his head, meeting his eyes meaningfully

“Wanted to save it for the right person” Remus leans forward kissing him, the two of them curling into each other.

__________________________________________

There are letters waiting for them at the table when they arrive. They had slept in choosing to go down with the others for breakfast.

“Moony are you okay?” James asks as they walk into the Great Hall “you’re walking a little funny” Sirius snickers, Remus blushing

“Yeah yeah fine probably just normal pains” he says, James shrugging and he sends Sirius a glare.

They sit down at the table, Remus recognizing his mother’s handwriting again. He hadn’t spoken to her since she wrote the first time hoping for something interesting to happen before he wrote. He supposes he could tell her about Sirius but he feels like he owes it to his friends to tell them first, and he’d also have to tell his parents that he’s gay before springing an entire relationship with his best friend on them first. He doubt they’d care.

_Dear Remus,_

_I hope you’re doing well and your school year is going smoothly, how are you getting on? Dad wants me to let you know that he ran into one of your muggle friends at the shop the other day and that they send their love. Maybe you could introduce the boys next summer? I’m sure they would love London. I know you’re meant to come home for Christmas but to be completely honest with you darling I don’t think that’s the best idea this year. Tensions have been running high around here and I worry if you were to come and anyone were to find out about your condition it would put you in danger. I’ve already sent note to James’ parents and they’ve agreed to let you stay unconditionally until the tensions ease a bit. I’m so sorry but I know you’ll have fun with your friends. We’ll send your presents over soon and we can’t wait to see you in June. I love you so much my darling boy,_

_Love,_

_Mum + Dad_

He looks up from his letter, James and Sirius smiling at him optimistically. “I’m sorry mate” James says pulling him into a side hug “But we’re going to have a blast with the four of us” Remus looks to Peter confused and he explains

“My sister is having a baby soon and I’d rather not be around that for two weeks if you three are there having fun” Remus grins. Maybe this Christmas wouldn’t be so bad after all.

That evening they sneak out past curfew setting up the second part of their final prank of the semester. The last quidditch game is the next day and they want to make it clear which team is going to win. The four of them huddle under the cloak barely fitting over their ankles

“This was a mistake” Peter whispers panicked “We don’t all fit”

“Have some faith wormy. We won’t get caught” James says completely sure of himself. Then again when wasn’t James Potter completely sure of himself?

In the end Wormtail was right about all of them huddling under the cloak. They weren’t twelve anymore they shouldn’t have tried to fit all four fully grown 16 years olds under thinking they would be covered. Now when planning their pranks they’d go out with one under the cloak, preferably two if they can make it work. They are just rounding the corner for the first floor staircase when a door thuds, James and Sirius jumping. In the process of them jumping they’re knocked out of the cloak, accidentally transforming in a panic. McGonagall walks around the corner at that moment, all four of them freezing. She stops seeing the stag and dog in the empty hallway, blinking a few times at the sight in front of her. 

“I’m not sure how or why but I just know James and Sirius are behind this” She says to herself. She stares at them a few more minutes, before turning and walking back down the same hallway she had come.

“Come on” Remus hisses at them “Let’s get this done before we’re actually caught”

It’s only when they’re inside the Great Hall do they remove the cloak, Peter smirking at James who transforms back “Prongs I didn’t realize you literally turned into a deer in the highlights when scared”Remus and Sirius laughing quietly James rolling his eyes

“Better that than not! She’d have seen us falling out of the cloak and then we would’ve lost our only secure mode of nighttime transportation”

They get moving, the four of them creating actual clouds to replace the illusion ones on the ceiling. Remus spin his wand quickly within his hand, similar to how he would when whisking with his mother last summer a quick “ _Fumos”_ changing his wand motions into a cloud. It grows the more hespins his wand, James hexing it before Remus lets go, and the cloud floating to the ceiling. The two of them move up all the way up the long tables to make sure every seat would be covered while Sirius and Peter do the same for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. They don’t touch the professor’s table- they didn’t have a death wish. The Gryffindor table remains untouched which Remus knows is probably a bad idea to remain anonymous but the professors would know either way at this point in their pranking careers. The prank is finished an hour later, the four of them crawling into bed exhausted but looking forward to the next day…

_________________________________

“When will they go off?” Remus asks taking a sip of his coffee. He woke up that morning feeling the lack of sleep but he’s sure it will be worth it once their prank is successful. He doesn’t know how well James and Sirius are feeling especially now having to turn around and play a Quidditch match this afternoon.

“They’re triggered to go after Dumbledore claps” The headmaster walks to the podium everyone turning to look at him.

“Good morning everyone. I’ll keep this short since today is a Saturday but I’d like to wish Gryffindor and Slytherin good luck in their match today. The winner of today’s game will be the official winner of the Quidditch house cup. I wish you all the best of luck!”He claps twice James’ face glowing like a child on Christmas as synthetic rain begins to fall at all three tables, Crimson and Gold drops instantly dying their hair and robes. The students whirls around, the great hall falling into chaos as the rain falls on them.

“GO GRYFFINDOR” Sirius roars, the rest of Gryffindor clapping them along as the rest of the school is dyed their colors. The professors stare on in shock as the students stand up and try to flee the tables but the cloud separates trailing them for a minute before eventually it stops a minute later. Remus swears McGonagalls is that of pride as the great hall falls into chaos.

Shockingly they aren’t punished for their stunt, Slytherin throw a tantrum as James and Sirius show up for their game an hour later, but Remus suspects they will just be given detentions later that day, McGonagall not wanting to give up their spot in the tournament just yet.

“Madam Hooch how are they eligible to play? They dyed our hair!”

“Unless the dye somehow affects your ability to play Quidditch there is no reason Gryffindor should be disqualified from today’s game”

“Gorgeous colors might we add” James smirks, the beater of the Quidditch team glaring at them.

“You’re dead Potter”

“Oddly enough I’ve heard that threat from you before and yet here I am still standing. You might want to follow throw on your word”

Remus sits in the stands with Lily and Peter, the three of them with their Gryffindor scarves wrapped around them. As funny as the prank had been it was now a tad bit difficult to figure out who in the stands are the Gryffindors and who are the Slytherins. Madam Hooch blows her whistle all of them kicking off the ground and the championship game had begun

“The game starts with Captain James Potter with the quaffle. He is being chased by Slytherin captain Lucinda Talkalot, the Gryffindor narrowly dodging her attack. This looks like it’s shaping off to be an exciting game!” James despite his talk genuinely is an amazing quidditch player. Him and Sirius streak through the field knowing the other’s location without even having to look. Sirius who normally is keeper took over as a chaser today, one of theirs sick. Typically when a change like this happens it throws the whole team off, yet Sirius and James are like one person in two bodies, they just work.

“Apparently Regulus is sick” Peter says, both Remus and Lily looking away from the match at his words 

“Is it bad?” He asks suddenly worried for his boyfriend’s younger brother. He didn’t know what Sirius would do if something happened to Regulus. He felt guilty enough leaving him behind in that house. 

“No no” Lily explains “Regulus is on the Slytherin team - if he’s not playing that means their seeker is useless”

“Does James know this?!” Peter shrugs and Lily stands up cupping his hands

“JAMES” His best friend somehow hears her call whirling around to look at him from the other side of the field.

“Regulus is sick!” James follows her gaze to where the substitute is joining the game looking terrified. James beams back giving her a thumbs up, Lily sitting back down a content smile on her face.

“He’s not so bad you know” Remus says to her quietly “I know he can be arrogant but he’s got a good heart” and she nods smiling a little

“No I suppose he’s not so bad”

The game is like watching a slaughtering in war. Thirty minutes in Slytherin’s game their keeper is knocked unconscious, and it only gets worse from there. Remus watches as Slytherin get angrier and angrier, their shots at Sirius only reflecting that. In the end it’s a mercy win, the Seeker catching the snitch and Gryffindor won 530 points ahead. There was no way Slytherin would’ve been able to get back in time.

“And with Phoebe Dawson catching the snitch Gryffindor is the winner of this years Inter-house Tournament!” The commentator says, a roar going through the stands. They did it. They followed through with their word and they didn’t just win. They conquered.

James and Sirius come upstairs after their showers with the rest of the team, the tower ready for a celebration. He has a fire whiskey in his hand within minutes, Remus and Sirius scrambling away as Lily approaches him, a small smile on her face

“You played really well today” She says, James looking as if she had just proposed on the spot

“Thanks Evans”

Nobody sees or hears from the older Gryffindors until dinner time the next day, all of them walking in, hangovers still raging. At 2:30 the party was still raging on, the portrait swinging open.They all turn to stare, McGonagall standing there her arms crossed

“Minnie!” Sirius slurs from where he stands on, an amused smile spreading out on McGonagall’s face as she stares at a very drunk Sirius Black, a carved out watermelon atop his head. 

“Mr. Black just how much have you had to drink?” She asks

“I don’t know” he says laughing but his face lights up with a realization “but I am of age! So you can’t punish me!” James laughs but quickly hides the butterbeer in his hand behind his back then McGonagall turns to look at him

“I’ve just come to say congratulations on the win captain but for the love of merlin turn it down a notch I can hear it from my bedroom”

They did not turn it down. The party hadn’t ended until five that morning, Remus and Sirius drunkenly going at it in a closet.

“We’ll talk about the irony of this later” He says kissing Sirius’ neck, his boyfriend only laughing. He had crashed on the floor, his head resting on James’ unconscious stomach and when he had woken up Sirius was there beside him, James gone. The professors all smirk among themselves knowing full well that they had been in bed the majority of the day.

Then the first weekend of December as if he is asking for pain the full moon comes around again. He walks down with Madam Pomfrey to the shack, his friends not far behind under the cloak. They had figured it out for his full moons, Peter transforming when they are still in the dormitory, riding down on Sirius’ shoulder.

“Ready love?” She asks and he nods giving her a weak smile

“I’ll come get you in the morning”

The door shuts behind her and he listens to her footsteps descend before a small knock hits the door. His friends walk in, his bones twisting. It’s starting early today then.

“Hurry” He groans, his friends transforming as his arm twists back. He hears a howl escape his mouth, his eyes rolling back into his head, Padfoot worried eyes the last sight he sees.

He wakes up in the hospital wing, Sirius by his side. A book is open, his boyfriend reading quietly. He’s hunched over the side of the bed, taking advantage of the empty space in the bed that his legs didn’t take up. His hair is tied back, his leather jacket over his uniform, his reading glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He hadn’t slept well then. Sirius only ever wore his glasses when he was tired, because he claimed they weren’t punk rock enough. When he was tired though he finally gave in and allowed himself the ability to read without straining his eyes. His agreement with Madam Pomfrey in order to stay no doubt.

“Hey” he groans. Sirius looks up from his textbook, a smile already on his face, which makes him want to smile.

“Hey love” Sirius says quietly leaning up to kiss him. The hospital wing is empty, the blinds pulled over.

“How long have I been out?”The words escape his mouth before Sirius can ask anything else like how he is feeling. What an asinine question after a werewolf transformation.

“A day” Remus frowns

“What day is it?”

“Monday…” He says wincing and Remus quickly tries to do the math in his head

“I’m missing days at a time now… Sirius my life is slipping me by because of this awful monstrosity” Sirius grabs his hand holding it tightly

“We’ll figure this out Moony…this isn’t forever”

“I’m sixteen. I’m going to blink and I’ll be eighty”

“Oh I wouldn’t have that outlook. In someways life is very very long Mr. Lupin” Madam Pomfrey says coming over

“Can I go back to Gryffindor tower?” He asks, Madam Pomfrey shaking her head

“I’m sorry love. You broke your arm somehow after you transitioned back so I want to keep you here for one more night and make sure you’re alright. You can go back first thing in the morning I promise” He nods sighing

“On the plus side” Sirius says “You’ve got me the whole day! I talked Minnie into letting me stay by your side” Remus beams, Sirius handing him a piece of chocolate.

______________________________________

It’s a quiet day in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey watching as the boys spend the rest of the afternoon studying and trying to catch pieces of chocolate in their mouths. They run out quickly, Poppy silently waving her want to refill the container of sweets. The chocolate isn’t the best for them but she knows how much the young werewolf loves it, and if it makes going through that awful transformation every month without any complaints a little easier then she too could turn a blind eye.Remus beating Sirius by seven, the both of them falling asleep curled into each other by ten. It always amazed her how loyal the four boys are to each other. Every morning without fail there they were as she comes in waiting by his best side.

Madam Pomfrey smiles seeing the two boys as she goes to leave for the evening pulling a blanket over Sirius, Remus curling into the other boy’s chest, Sirius pulling him close kissing the top of his head. _Oh._

When she returns the next morning however she finds two more boys there. James Potter and Peter Pettigrew fast asleep, chairs pulled up their heads resting on either side of Mr. Lupin’s bed. They will have cricks in their necks, she says to herself as she gently levitates Mr. Potter into theclosest bed, his body practically sighing, sinking into the pillow happily.She does the same for Mr. Pettigrew, both boys curling further into the blankets, falling into a deep sleep within minutes.

It’s only when she returns from lunch does she see Remus up and laughing with his friends.

__________________________________________

When Remus had woken up Sirius was still asleep beside him, Peter and James passed out in the beds beside them. Had something happened?

It doesn’t take long for them to wake up, James shaking himself awake a few minutes later, the two boys coming over to his bed.

“Is everything okay?” He asks

“Oh yeah I think Pomfrey just took pity on us” James grins, Remus beaming along with them. Sirius opens his eyes at the sound a second later seeing the three of them staring at him.

“Wake up sleeping beauty,” James says “Hogging Moony’s bed when he’s recovering and everything! How shameful” Sirius just rolls his eyes sleepily

“If I remember correctly Moony too took pity on me and offered to share his bed”

“You know you could’ve slept in your own beds” His friends all look offended at the implication and James scoffs

“Moony are you new here? Leave no Marauder behind!”


	4. The Final Straw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys head home for christmas

Chapter 4:

“Moony! MOOOOOONNYYYY!” A hand gently shakes him and suddenly he’s awake far too early in the morning. He doesn’t have to be conscious to know that excited voice belongs to James Potter. The same James Potter he currently wants to throttle for waking him.

“What do you want Prongs?” he mutters opening his eye a crack. James stands beside his bed, his shirt on and unbuttoned. He couldn’t have given him the time it took him to get dressed to sleep? 

“We’re going home today!”

“Are we that miserable company?” Sirius says from his own bed smirking, Remus laughing to himself

“Come on both of you up! Peter is up and ready”

“That’s because Peter has the sleep schedule of a 75-year-old grandmother” Sirius mutters but hauls himself out of bed nonetheless.

They both know full well James would move to other tactics if they didn’t get up. Bed wasn’t worth it. Remus hauls himself up shuffling to the bathroom and then back and into his trousers and cozy jumper waiting for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he wore trousers other than his uniform

“Hey!” Sirius catches his hand as he goes to get his coffee waiting for him in the great hall

“No morning kiss?” The dormitory is empty, James and Peter gone down for their breakfast while Sirius and Remus had begun to get dressed. He laughs scrunching his nose and says

“Morning breath”

“Excuse me it’s not that bad!”

“I mean me you tosser” He laughs but wraps his arm around Sirius’ neck either way, kissing his boyfriend. His boyfriend. He thinks giddily. How long had he been waiting for that dream to become a reality?

“What are you thinking about?” Sirius asks quietly

“How did you know I was thinking about something?”

“Your heartbeat sped up- you’re not the only one with good hearing moons” he teases kissing the end of his nose. Remus rolls his eyes fondly

“I was thinking about you actually” It’s Sirius’ turn to blush and he just shakes his head grinning

“Come on we don’t need James coming to look for us. We have a Christmas break to get to”

Their lead up to Christmas had been hectic, the professors piling as much as work as possible before their last day. Even Sirius was in the library with them as the worked piled up, Remus barely sleeping as they put in hours trying to get his transfiguration essay complete before then turning and working on his Potions and then Defense of the Dark Arts. It felt like it would never end. That that had become his new life. And then finally it had all ended and they were off for two whole weeks.

“Why do we even celebrate Christmas?” Remus asks Sirius as they walk down to the great hall, Remus holding his hand subtly as they walk “We’re not even christians” Sirius shrugs thinking about it

“I suppose it’s because it’s a nice holiday, and few wizards partake in the religious aspect of it so it’s just a time of celebration”

The Great Hall is fully decorated, red and green ribbons hung through the hall. A Christmas tree sits at the front, decorated with all the house colors. Chatter fills the room, everyone buzzing to be heading home.

“So ladies” Sirius says as they sit down “What are the plans for Christmas?” Lily shrugs

“We’re having a quiet one this year. I’m meeting Petunia’s new boyfriend” Her lips curls, both Remus and Peter chuckling

“I take it you’re not a fan?”

“Well she’s in love but based on her taste in men that’s not a good sign”

“I’d be happy to come with you” James says “Play your fake boyfriend. Maybe we have one too many firewhiskeys and oh no! We’re suddenly we’re under the mistletoe” He flicks his wand amistletoe appearing between them, Sirius and Remus grinningbut Lily just rolls her eyes

“It is far too early in the day for your horny imaginations Potter” The three marauders laugh, Sirius turning to Marlene

“And what about you McKinnon? Doing anything nice?”

“I think we’re going skiing…I’m not entirely sure though Mum’s been pretty hush hush about the whole thing”

“Should be fun either way” Peter says with a smile which cheers Marlene up a bit

“And what about you boys?”

“Oh you know us” Sirius says breezily “Can’t be apart for more than an hour so the four of us are going to James’ and we’ll see what we get up to there”

The six of them walk down to the train station together, Peter chatting to Lily about Herbology while James and Sirius discuss their pranks for the next semester. Remus watches them all happily as they walk, taking the moment for himself to remember it. They stay as a group of six the whole walk down but once on the train they get separated, Lily and Marlene heading into a compartment with other girls in their year, the Marauders getting a carriage to themselves.

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter are waiting on the platform for them as the train pulls into kings cross. They had spent the whole journey playing card games, Sirius beating them a few times but after six years they all knew each other’s tells like the back of their hands making it a fair game. Remus barely notices the three hour train journey passing by, his friends somehow turning even their mundane train journey into something fun. Sirius smokes a cig out the crack in the window at one point James shaking his head.

“Can’t last one train journey Padfoot?”

“I can. I choose not to” He says smirking. James laughs but points his finger

“Fine but no weed- I don’t need Mum and Dad getting angry”

“I like having a bed to sleep in at night Prongs. I’m not on a death wish, and just because you’re not having a cig now doesn’t mean I haven’t seen you in the common room window three times this past week having one while chatting to Evans”

“Yes but do you smell it on me? Will our parents be able to tell? Not in the least”

“Ah that’s where I beat you brother” Sirius laughs holding up his wand and when he taps his head any scent of smoke or cigarette on him is gone. Remus can’t help but prefer the way he smells with the smoke. It’s part of his scent.

“My babies!” Euphemia says as the four boys jump off the train. Sirius runs forward to hug his adoptive mother. Remus hadn’t thought about how hard it must’ve been being away from them. His first glimpse at parental love and then having to go back to school.

“Hi mum” He says happily, Euphemia hugging Sirius back as enthusiastically as he had. Fleamont throws his arm around James happily as they climb off the train. Remus and Peter are both pulled in for hugs seconds later and he wonders what his own parents are up to for Christmas. 

Remus glances over to see Lily approaching a family. A woman hugs her tightly, a slightly older teenage girl standing there looking bored- it must be her older sister. Lily had mentioned her briefly in passing a few times other than this morning but it didn’t sound like they were close.

“I’ll be right back” He says to the others “I’ll catch up with you”

He goes over to Lily, his friend grinning at him as he approaches. Her mother shares an uncanny resemblance to her, the same neat red hair and kind green eyes.

“I just wanted to wish you a Happy Christmas” He says “I hope you have a good break. James wanted me to let you know that we’re having a New Years Eve party at his parents house and he hopes you can attend” Lily beams, a blush breaking out on her face

“Who’s James Lils?” Her dad asks, Lily’s eyes turning to daggers as she hugs him goodbye

“I’ll get you back for that one Lupin”

“Love you too Evans. Happy Christmas!” He says and runs to catch up with the other three. They’d gotten lost in the crowd, yet what is possibly the singular perk of this monstrosity that is his lycanthropy is that no matter how far his friends have travelled it’s as though his nose has some sort of map right to them. He walks through the crowd following their scents, Remus grinning as he turns the corner to see Sirius standing there waiting for him.

“Find your way back?” He grins

“The nose has it’s perks”

“You know our scents?” He asks dropping his volume, Remus nodding and says honestly

“My nose is so familiar with the three of your scents I could probably track you anywhere if I wanted” His boyfriend’s eyes sparkle with excitement

“Moony you should’ve said something sooner! The pranks we can pull with this! Do you know how vital it’ll be to be able to track someone anywhere in the world??”

“You’re going to go power hungry one of these days you know that right?” He says shaking his head, the two of them walking to catch up with the others. Sirius doesn’t drop the conversation yet asking quietly

“So what do I smell like? With that super nose of yours” Remus rolls his eyes fondly

“Wet dog and cigarettes” As his boyfriend beams what remus doesn’t confess is that this its the same thing he smells when they brew Amortia, the world’s strongest love potion. He’ll keep that bit to himself.

“What did you say to Evans?” James asks as they approach, the Evans family disappearing back into the muggle world for the Christmas holiday. Lily’s sister hadn’t hugged her hello, simply standing there until Lily as ready to exit the platform, the four of them walking back through the barrier.

“I invited her to our New Years Eve party” Remus says

“We’re having a New Years eve party?” Fleamont asks, his eyebrow quirked. They were the only parents Remus knew who took something like this in stride.

“We are now!” James says his face lighting up, him and Sirius babbling away at a million miles an hour planning what themes they could do for 1977.

“Remus” Fleamont says, a fond smile on his face “Who’s Evans?”

“Lily Evans” He says struggling not to laugh “Is a girl in our class”

“And James?”

“Has been in love with her since we were thirteen” James’ father lets out a deep joyous laugh

“Good to know. It’s a miracle he hasn’t mentioned her yet”

They apparate to James’ house, Sirius grabbing Remus’ hand as they leave, as brave as he acts Remus knows he’s secretly scared of apparating.

“You alright?” He asks as they appear in front of their house. Sirius nods, his hand on Remus’ shoulder steadying himself before the four of them head into the house, but a smile forms nearly instantly as he takes in the house before him. He’s home.

“Boys the beds are set up if you want to rest up there for a while” Euphemia says but knows full well they won’t be.

It begins to snow as they unpack their clothing, two inches down by the time they come downstairs an hour later.

“You know what this means boys” James says grinning.

“James dear you know you are sixteen and not ten right?” His mother asks, James frowning

“Yes mother I am aware but that doesn’t mean the ten year olds get to hog all the fun”

Remus and James form one team, Sirius spelling both teams a wall for equality. He’s the only one who can preform magic among them because of the stupid no magic outside of Hogwarts rule. Something he had no doubt James wants to protest to the ministry everyday.

“Ready?” Fleamont says. He had agreed to act as referee, something he probably comes to regret as the game continues on.

“Go!”

Peter is knocked out first within the fist ten minutes of the game, and nobody not even Peter is surprised as he goes to the sideline to stand with Fleamont. James is knocked next, Sirius hitting him right as he jumps up to throw a snowball. Sirius holds up a good fight but in the end Remus hits him in the shoulder, James running over throwing Remus over his shoulder.

“Moony for the win!! Moony for Minister of Magic!!”

“You’re an idiot Prongs” he says laughing

“I may be an idiot but I’m your biggest cheerleader”

“You’ll have to fight me for that title Potter” Sirius says and within seconds James has tackled Sirius, the two of them wrestling in the snow.

Remus and Peter watch amused for a minute before growing bored and heading into the warmth where Euphemia waits with hot chocolate and marshmallows, pieces of chocolate waiting for Remus.

“James mentioned how much you love chocolate” She says handing them to him and he throws his arms around the woman

“I heard you won, good job darling” She says kissing the top of his head, Remus beaming as they curl upon the couch. The door opens a few minutes later, James and Sirius dripping wet covered in snow standing there, both of them beaming. 

“Are you two done?” They nod silently and she shakes her head laughing

“I swear my sons. Idiots both of them” Remus glances to where Sirius stands and despite the chill he can see the grin on his face from the implication Mrs. Potter has just made. He’s her son as well.

“Go get changed you two and you can get a hot chocolate” The two of them peg it upstairs, their feet clattering around as they change out of their soaking wet clothing. They hear a thud, James’ voice calling out a second later

“I’m okay!” Both boys snort into their hot chocolates, still laughing to themselves when James and Sirius reappear in fresh clothing

“So who won?” Euphemia asks raising an eyebrow “Who’s Remus’ biggest cheerleader?”

“Sirius” James grumbles, both Remus and Sirius grinning, Sirius shooting him a wink. “But I still love you Moony never doubt that” Remus laughs as his friends join them on the couch

“I never did Prongs don’t you worry”

Six hours later, all of them are five firewhiskeys in watching a muggle movie, Fleamont and Euphemia laughing at the drunk teenagers for a while before heading up to bed. It had started as a drinking game to pass the time, but the more they had the more they wanted

“JUST KISS HER” Peter roars as the muggle man misses his shot to get with the love interest for the third time that film.

“We could say the same about James and Evans” Sirius slurs James laughing hysterically

“If I tried to kiss Evans she’d probably push me off the top of the astronomy tower”

“Then why keep trying? If she’s not interested?”

“Because I’ll win her over eventually and as long as I’m not making her uncomfortable our future children are worth it” Remus laughs rolling his eyes

“Future children yeah we’ll see about that Prongs”

The doorbell rings, all of them sitting up as their parents come downstairs opening the door.Who the hell could that be at this time? It’s nearing midnight. The door to the sitting room blocks their view, only able to read Euphemia and Fleamont’s expressions to see what is going on.

“Walburga” Euphemia says and if her voice is cold Sirius’ mother’s is like ice as she says

“We’ve come to see our son” Sirius freezes panic written all over his face, Fleamont shaking his head firmly.

“I’m sorry but that won’t be happening - the boys are in no state to see you right now. Let them enjoy their evening and come back in the morning if you wish to speak to Sirius”

“You have no right to speak to us this way- _we are his parents_ ”

“Actually Sirius is seventeen so you have no say over his life anymore. If he chooses to be a part of our family that is entirely his decision” Euphemia spits back. Maybe she wasn’t as soft as everyone made her out to be. She _had_ raised James after all.

“No” Sirius says and he’s in the doorway before any of them can stop them “You don’t get to do this” he slurs angrily pointing at his parents “You don’t get to show up and demand to know why I didn’t come home when I’m drunk because I thought I made it pretty damn clear I was never coming back last summer”

“Darling go up to bed we can deal with this” Euphemia says but Walburga just stares at her son

“Do you know what an embarrassment it was when the council of families came over and you weren’t there? And we had to explain that we had failed raising you? That you had become deluded with these ideas of good and bad like they had any control over what happens in this life”

“I said it last summer and I’ll say it again. I’m done with you mother. I’m an adult now and I got my inheritance already so I’m free I’m free of you and your death eater ways”

The three of them are at Sirius’ side before he can move an inch. James meets Sirius’ mothers eye as they pass finally seeing the face that had caused his best friend so much pain for so many years. He watches Walburga subtly moving from her wand from her robe before Sirius does

“Sirius!” He yells jumping in front of line of the spell, the attack hitting James instead of Sirius. Walburga and Orion disapparate away, James’ parents turning in horror as he writhes in pain. It was the most pain he had ever experienced before, like every nerve ending was being stabbed over and over for a full minute. He lets out a yell, vomiting over himself as it ends, a sob escaping him. Sirius is sobbing, Remus and Peter watching in horror, his mum at his side in seconds.

“What was that?” He asks his voice weak, his mum vanishing the vomit

“The Cruciatus curse”Sirius says, his voice raw “My mother used to strike me with it when I wouldn’t behave. It only lasted a minute or so because she didn’t hold the spell” He steps forward wondering if they will flinch, and when they don’t Sirius scoops his best friend into his arms easily. The four of them go upstairs, Sirius carrying James carefully.

“You didn’t have to do that” he says his cheeks dry with tears “It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before”

“You’re my brother. You wouldn’t let Regulus deal with that would you?” Sirius shakes his head and says so quietly not even Remus and Peter can hear him “I’d take his lashes for him”

“There’s a reason you were put in Gryffindor Padfoot and it wasn’t just because you wanted to defy your family. You are as brave as they come”

They get into bed, Sirius curled up in his animagi from by James’ feet, Remus and Peter on either side of them. It was how they used to sleep when they were younger after one of Remus’ transformations, the four of them squeezing into one twin bed. Euphemia pokes her head in as the boys drift off to sleep.

“Do you think they realized we set out four beds?” She asks quietly, her husband smiling 

“I think they saw them and chose to get in one bed”

Christmas passes quietly, the boys’ presents arriving from their individual parents, not another world from Sirius’ parents. They wake up around nine the morning of December 25th, James and Sirius dragging Peter and Remus down with their parents. James healed quickly with a few charms, a small scar over on his chest where he had been struck but other than that no lasting affects.

“I’m so sorry” Sirius had said the next morning trying to hold back his sobs “I- I understand if you don’t want me to stay here” James had just pulled Sirius into his arms

“You’re a part of our family Padfoot. That was your parents not you- you’re not going anywhere” And that had been that. James had healed and the whole thing had been forgotten. Well for everyone except Sirius. It had killed any potential relationship he could’ve had with his parents. Any chance of forgiveness had been thrown out the window the second she turned her wand on his friends.

They share presents, all of them opening them happily. Remus had gotten Sirius a constellation blanket that is charmed to stay warm and soft no matter how many times he washes it, a brush cleaning kit and a signed poster from his favorite quidditch player for James, andhe gets Peter a book on advanced herbology. He was quite pleased with his presents for his friends, grinning when he unwraps the potion and cream from his parents

“What is that darling” Euphemia asks

“It’s to help with my transformations” He says awkwardly “It’s supposed to make the pain less significant” Fleamont eyes the bottle and how small it is, holding out his hand

“May I see it?” Remus nods Fleamont tapping it with his wand twice and hands it back to Remus

“Now it’ll never run out”

Before Remus knows it it’s the evening of December 31st and he’s walking out of James’ house. Sirius and James had picked out his outfit; jeans and a white shirt, Sirius’ jacket on. Sirius had been doing his hair when Remus had to leave to pick up Lily. He didn’t know how to apparate yet and he was the only one of his friends who could. James wanted to be the one to go but they had all quickly shut him down

“James if you show up to get her she’ll refuse to come” He had just sighed and agreed that they were probably right

“Sirius I’m taking your jacket” he calls

“Alright but don’t get it dirty” He had nodded kissing his boyfriend quickly. Peter was in the next room humming to himself, James downstairs setting everything up. Sirius abandons his hair for the moment to squeeze his arse

“Never gets old” he grins Remus pushing him away with a laugh

“You absolute prat Sirius Black”

“You love it”

“Don’t use my hormones against me” Sirius’ booming laugh is the last thing he hears as he turns and walks out of the house

He walks down the lane way, sliding Sirius’ jacket on and shuts the gate behind him. The jacket smells like Sirius, Remus smiling to himself as he closes his eyes picturing the street Lily lives on. He apparates, his body sucked down a tube like some sort of uncomfortable fair ride and a second later he opens his eyes to be standing on Lily’s street in Cokeworth. The muggle houses are decorated with lights, inflated snowmen set up outside their houses. How odd. A man stares at him, Remus awkwardly waving hello before walking towards Lily’s house.

Remus rings the bell nervously, footsteps racketing around the house as one person runs to open the door, another moving around their bedroom. Remus always forgets how loud houses are when they’re not spelled to expel noise. The door swings open to reveal Mr. Evans standing there, a polite smile on his face.

“Hi, is this the Evans’ residence?” He asks and hears Lily call down

“Remus?”

“Hi Lils!”

“I’m coming down now!”

Lily comes running down the stairs in a short skirt and denim jacket with black wedges adding three inches to her normal height, her red hair tied into a high ponytail, hoops dangling in either ear. She looks amazing.

“Ready to go?” He asks and she nods kissing her father on the cheek in passing, her backpack in hand

“I’ll see you tomorrow daddy. Have a nice evening. Happy New Years ”

“What town will you be in again?” He asks, Remus smiling patiently. It’s clear how hard her parents are trying to understand their world. Even if none of it made sense to them.

“Lily and I will apparate, which is kinda like teleporting, back to James’ village called Godric’s Hallow and then tomorrow I’ll apparate her back here” Her father nods and he adds “And James’ parents will be there” Her father smiles fondly shaking Remus’ hand

“That’s all I need to here. See you tomorrow Lil”

They walk back down the pathway, both of them looking up to see Snape walking a dog across the street. His hair is the exact same length as ever, staring as he turns the corner, eyeing Remus and Lily standing there. Remus knew he lived in the same town as Lily but it was strange to see him outside of Hogwarts in muggle clothing. He eyes the jacket Remus is wearing, and he knows Snape is noting that he’s wearing Sirius’ jacket. Remus sneers, the other boy curling his lip but otherwise ignores him, Lily placing a hand on his shoulder

“Come on just ignore him”

They walk down a path Lily telling him about her muggle Christmas festivities. They had gone to church, her parents’ friends questioning her about weird boarding school. Remus always found these stories funny, so similar to when his mother’s muggle friends ask about the mysterious boarding school her son went to.

“Did you have a nice Christmas?” He nods telling her about his presents from his friends and mentions Sirius’ parents showing up

“James took the _Cruciatus Curse_ for Sirius?” Lily asks her jaw practically falling open and Remus nods

“James would do pretty much anything for his friends, none of us even saw it coming but James somehow did and jumped in front of Sirius” They arrive at their departure spot, Lily holding onto his arm, the two of them apparating back to Godric’s Hallow. He holds her steady as she regains her balance.

They enter the house, the party lights already on, but Euphemia and Fleamont are still downstairs, yet to head into their sound proofed bedroom. They had moved the television upstairs and James’ record player downstairs, his parents seeming perfectly happy for James to host a party. The four boys had all agreed to clean up the next day and that’s all it had taken for them to okay it.

“You must be Lily!” Fleamont says excitedly as Remus walks back into the house, the muggleborn by his side “James has told me all about you” Lily blushes, Remus, Peter and Sirius all grinning as James groans.

“Dad- maybe not now?” his father just shushes him

“The amount of times I’ve heard about you this break already” Lily grins at James’ father and says

“I’ve heard about James on this trip alone would you believe-“ Lily turns to look at James “you know James, Remus told me about what you did for Sirius- that was really brave” His friend’s head whips up, a goofy grin spreading over his face

“Really?”

“Of course- I don’t know anybody who’d willingly be tortured for their friend”

“Anything for Pad” He says, Sirius beaming from he lounges the couch a firewhiskey already in his hand “Do you want a drink?” Lily nods, the two of them wandering off, the three Marauders looking on with wide eyes

“That’s the furthest he’s ever gotten! Remus did you give her a love potion?” Peter asks in awe and the werewolf shakes his head

“No! We were talking about our breaks and I mentioned that and it was like suddenly James was the coolest person in the world” Sirius laughs, Peter walking over to answer the door as it rings.

“You look really hot in that jacket by the way. Might have to leave it lying around more often” Sirius whispers leaning in, Remus kissing him quickly before standing up

“Tease” he says, Remus laughing all the way to the kitchen

“What are you laughing at Moony?” James asks

“Oh just a joke Sirius told me”

“You two and your jokes” Lily says laughing, Remus rolling his eyes fondly as he pours himself a drink.

If there is one thing James Potter knows how to do, it is throwing a party. Those parties only get better when they’re not in a common room that can be heard from every crevice of the castle around them. By 10:30 Remus swears half their year has somehow jammed themselves into James’ first floor, the music thumping.

He only sees James a few times in the night, James speaking to Lily the whole time. It’s the longest conversation they’d ever had and none of the marauders wanted to risk messing that up for him. He wanders over as it’s nearing eleven, Remus looking up from where he’s talking to Marlene. She had gone skiing but when Lily had sent word of James' NYE party she had come home early and apparated from her home in Essex to Godric's Hallow

“Moony why is Peter in your pocket?” Remus looks down confused and remembers when he sees the rat

“Oh right- Peter was trying to impress the girl Claire and transformed into a rat but he’s too drunk and he can’t transform back. I put him in there so nobody would step on his tail” James laughs, Marlene scratching the top of Peter’s hand. James takes his wand out gently placing Remus on the table and with a flick Peter transforms back into his human form

“Oh thank you so much mate” He slurs “You’re a lifesaver” James laughs again just shakes his head “Let’s go get you a drink wormy we’ve got another while until midnight” 

As midnight grows nearer and the more alcohol people drank the wilder it gets. Wizard drinks mixes with muggle alcohol and before he knew it he was back on the table leading a dance in the YMCA. He could see James laughing at him but he doesn’t care. He’s young he’s happy and he’s in love. He’s in love.

“SIRIUS” he says jumping down mid-song and runs over to James where he is leaning against a wall talking to a girl who he suspects may be a muggle. She stares at him and he just knows she’s wondering where his scars came from

“James!” He says

“Yeah moony?”

“Where is Sirius?”

“Last I saw him he was trying to talk Peter to jump off the roof with his broomstick” Remus sighs laughing. Of course he was.

Remus finds Sirius right before the clock strikes midnight. He strides through the party confidently, a grin blossoming on his face as he sees Remus running towards him

“I need to tell you something” Remus says the party far too loud for anybody else to over hear them “and I know I’m drunk but I don’t care- I’m in love with you Sirius” His boyfriend grins and as if he timed it perfectly the party explodes as it goes past midnight

“I love you too Moony” He says, and Remus doesn’t even look around before kissing him. “Happy New Years Padfoot” he says beaming

“Happy New Years” Sirius says giggling. They dance to the music but when Remus turns his head they both freeze. Because James was standing there staring at them. And he had seen everything.


End file.
